THE FILM

Film Portion Reviewed by Janet White:

In typical 70s film fashion, Free Fire opens with an aerial scan of the city below. Curvaceous, bold letters displayed nearly every cast member and some of the crew. This got very old, long, and kept the pace slow. Two men waiting in an alley… (Sounds like a bad joke, it was). Stevo (Sam Riley) and Bernie (Enzo Cilenti) meet up with Justine (Brie Larson), Chris (Cillian Murphy), and Frances (Michael Smiley) for a shady gun buy with Ord (Armie Hammer), Vernon (Sharlto Copley), Martin (Babou Ceesay), Gordon (Noah Taylor), and Harry (Jack Reynor, how did they turn this hottie into a slob?). Great cast, right? Well, great casts alone do not a great film make. The dialogue and plot points must harness and ride with that talent.

In typical 70s film fashion, Free Fire opens with an aerial scan of the city below. Curvaceous, bold letters displayed nearly every cast member and some of the crew. This got very old, long, and kept the pace slow. Two men waiting in an alley… (Sounds like a bad joke, it was). Stevo (Sam Riley) and Bernie (Enzo Cilenti) meet up with Justine (Brie Larson), Chris (Cillian Murphy), and Frances (Michael Smiley) for a shady gun buy with Ord (Armie Hammer), Vernon (Sharlto Copley), Martin (Babou Ceesay), Gordon (Noah Taylor), and Harry (Jack Reynor, how did they turn this hottie into a slob?). Great cast, right? Well, great casts alone do not a great film make. The dialogue and plot points must harness and ride with that talent. Inundated with morons and piss-poor shooting for a calamitous combination, Free Fire leaves the audience either shaking their heads or bowing over laughing. Between the mumbling of lines and poor volume control, I missed bits of the dialogue for sure. It is as if they were aiming to repeat what Tarantino did with Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, but they were not clever enough. Complete with wondrous never-ending bullet supplies and a villain’s miraculous ability to stave off death repeatedly aka “movie magic,” Free Fire simply does not make much sense. Could a person, shot in their right arm, fire a weapon (even automatic rifles) with their right hand? Read the rest of this entry »

THE FILM

Everyone can understand that the second movie in any series can be the problematic middle child of a franchise. They tend to suffer between the spellbinding beginning and the satisfying conclusion. However, The Hunger Games: Catching Firerises above the usual awkward bridge label with excellent performances and a script that remains faithful to the book to make it a movie that could almost stand on its own.

‘The Possibility Of Fireflies‘ is a novel by Dominique Paul published in 2006 and is, at it’s heart a coming of age story. Taking place during the summer of 1989 in suburban Maryland. It follows Ellie Roma (Joey King) – a precocious teenager with dreams of becoming a writer – who must cope with her chaotic, self destructive mother Susanna (Courtney Love) and a volatile metal-head sister, Gwen. When Ellie falls in love with her older neighbor, aspiring singer Leo, she finds herself caught in the alluring undertow of a reckless rock n’ roll freedom, and must make a decision that will change her life for ever.

In a not unusual move, scheduling conflicts have cropped up on the set for ‘Freeheld‘. Zach Galifianakis was originally on tap to play the male lead in the film based on a documentary about domestic partner benefits. The furry, funny man had to step down due to other commitments, making way for Steve Carell to step into the vacated position. The docu followed the story of Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree as the pair fought to amend the Domestic Partnership Act, which would grant pension benefits to domestic partners of all New Jersey public employees. Ellen Page and Julianne Moore are under contract to play the couple.

Star Wars fans are in for a special treat at this year’s Fan Days where at least half a dozen guests will offer free autographs. Tom Kane, the narrator and voice of “Yoda” on the Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, will sign Fan Days’ exclusive photos at no charge during the show Oct. 8 and 9 in the new 300,000-square-foot Irving Convention Center in Irving, Texas.

I’m so psyched for ‘Class of 1999‘ on Blu-ray from Vestron Video. This sci-fi thriller was part of my video collection when I was younger and I watched it all the time. Basically, this is about a high-school that puts in robotic teachers to keep the peace in school, but it turns into a real ‘Westworld‘ type of situation when the robot teachers start killing students. It’s then up to the kids to fight back. It stars Pam Grier, Stacy Keach, and Malcolm McDowell, which it doesn’t get cooler than that. There are new commentaries and interviews for bonus features. The Blu-ray will be released on January 30th, 2018 in a limited edition and I can’t be more excited about this if I tried to be.

Arrow Video has announced their lineup for September with some excellent titles in time for Halloween. All releases come with new HD transfers and some pretty cool extras. Be sure to read all about them below and pre-order for the cheapest price. I can’t wait to watch these fun gems again.

The upcoming 11th edition of the Dallas International Film Festival, or DIFF, opens March 30 and runs through April 9 for 2017. The festival will celebrate the year of 1967 with a salute to films from that year and we’ve got the full schedule here.

Dragged Across Concrete is the third film from S. Craig Zahler that focuses on two police detectives (Mel Gibsonand Vince Vaughn) who are put on suspension and are looking to make some extra money to support their families, even if it means doing something dangerous off the grid. It’s a fantastic film for sure. The 1080p HD transfer, DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio mix, and two excellent bonus features are all worth your time. Highly Recommended!

Get your B-Movie nudity excitement ready, because the 1983 horror film ‘10 to Midnight‘ is back with an all new 4K transfer on Scream Factory Blu-ray glory. J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear) directed this film with a script from William Roberts (The Magnificent Seven) about a serial killer who kills naked women. Well that’s how it sounds on paper, but there’s more to this story, along with a cast of Charles Bronson, a young Kelly Preston, Ola Ray from the Michael Jackson Thriller video, and the diabeetus man himself Wilford Brimley as a police captain. I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that does it?

The big summer blockbuster is almost here. I’m not talking about dinosaurs trying to survive an eruptive volcano either. I’m talking about WWE’s 31st annual SummerSlam PPV of entertainment and pro-wrestling, which is set to take place on August 19th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York and can be watched live in HD on the WWE Network for $9.99 a month or for free if you’re a new subscriber. Over the next few days, our writer Angi and I will be conjuring up some entertaining pieces about each match at SummerSlam 2018. We’ll cover each WWE Superstar, the background of the match, the odds of winning, and what to look out for in each match.

The big summer blockbuster is almost here. I’m not talking about the destruction of Vibranium either. I’m talking about WWE’s 31st annual SummerSlam PPV of entertainment and pro-wrestling, which is set to take place on August 19th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York and can be watched live in HD on the WWE Network for $9.99 a month or for free if you’re a new subscriber. Over the next few days, our writer Angi and I will be conjuring up some entertaining pieces about each match at SummerSlam 2018. We’ll cover each WWE Superstar, the background of the match, the odds of winning, and what to look out for in each match.

Fantastic Fest is one of the events that is pure bliss for any fan of genre cinema. If you love horror, sci-fi, foreign, action, and even adult-oriented movies from the 1970s, then Fantastic Fest is the place to let that freak flag fly high and be with like-minded individuals that truly appreciate the art of movies. All of the madness and fun will take place in Austin, TX starting on September 20th and run for 10 days at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar St. This year, which is the 14th annual festival of Fantastic-ness, captures the essence of the Korean movie scene with a ton of cool films being showcased from Korea, both new and old. This is something you won’t want to miss.

The first wave of movies has been announced, including the World Premiere of the WWII horror movie called ‘OVERLORD‘ from J.J. Abrams. In addition to that film, Fantastic Fest will host Gareth Evans‘ horror movie ‘APOSTLE‘. Gareth gave us the amazing films ‘THE RAID‘ AND ‘THE RAID 2‘, so you can expect some insane fight scenes and horrific imagery. Alos, a film called ‘THE NIGHT COMES FOR US‘, which stars the badass from those ‘RAID‘ movies will be shown, meaning Iko Uwais will stun us once again with his amazing physical skills. If you were a fan of ‘THE GREASY STRANGLER‘, the director of that movie Jim Hosking has a new film called ‘AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN‘, which is being described as a David Lynch meets John Waters type of movie. You had me at Greasy Strangler.

Lastly, there are some vintage films coming through from AGFA (American Genre Film Archive), one of which has peaked my interest from the title alone – ‘MARY JANE’S NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE‘. I have high hopes for this one. Below is the list of films with cast and crew info, along with a brief synopsis. Enjoy and hope to see you all there.